seven kinds of crazy
by vapanalley
Summary: Seven drabble about the crazy things people come up with and the way others combat the insanity.
1. Azula

_Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Michael D. DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Aaron Ehasz._

* * *

She's rarely lucid these days. She giggles to herself even as metal bonds bite into her skin with a vengeance.

(_Pain. Flame. Blame.)_

Silly Zuzu.

He will always be the weak one even though he visits in all his Fire Lord glory every week. Strong as he may see with that ridiculous attempt at an emotional less mask falling over his features every time he walks by her cell, she knows everything. He can't hide from her even if half his face can't even show emotion. Being locked up changes nothing.

Stupid Zuzu.

(_Best. Crest. Jest.)_

She's always been Father's favorite. Even now locked up and unable to bend, the both of them, he still loves her best.

Azula calls out to her brother from behind metal bars and her voice echoes across metal seemingly reverberating through air. She is so loud. The worn and battered Fire Nation banner hanging in her cell flutters from the heat of her flaming breath.

"I'll always be better Zuzu, and don't you forget it. You and your stupid bitch can go rot in hell once this is over. Hell has blue flames or haven't you heard you pathetic excuse for a descendant of Sozin! You're a ridiculous excuse for royalty you piece of turtle-duck shit."

(_Sleep. Leap. _Fall.)

She calls out for a long time. Screaming and laughing and slipping in and out of her own mind, she sits in her cell and strains against her mortal bonds. So little holds her down and she drifts into a sleep that is as restful as it can be when she is caught upright with her limbs rung up behind her.

She's fighting again. She's chasing the Avatar across the roof of some dilapidated peasant house in the Earth Kingdom. She's leaping across the roof to follow him and his nimble steps lead her into a blackness she doesn't expect from clear skies. Space. Her flames streak behind her in the beautiful and cutting blue cape that they should be forming at her command. She's flies so quickly and so high up into the sky it's like all the air has drained away from the world and she is free to do whatever she wants.

She's falling and she's never getting back up again. She raves about blue and space when the guards bring Zuko in for his weekly visit.


	2. Iroh

Iroh doesn't need any reflective surface at the moment to remind him that he is just an old man reminiscing on the past. The past is such a strange place.

He remembers looking at Zuko, and from a certain angle his formerly wayward nephew looked a bit like himself. He had been bold. He had been desperate to prove himself to others and himself through a destiny that he saw with eyes that only held the naivety and greed of one who does not think things through. The young are rash because they don't know better. The old are not rash simply because they can't move fast enough.

Iroh chuckles to himself. At the next White Lotus gathering he will mention those exact words in a good joke. Something involving turtle-ducks and pai sho would be appropriate.

He had only thought of what conquering Ba Sing Sei could get for himself (respect, recognition, individuality, power), and had not thought even for a moment what he might be taking away from others (home, music, freedom, culture). Zuko had thought of what he could gain and not what others might lose. And they had both reformed themselves into something that better served the Four Nations. Places of power always look different from different eyes, and they have both changed so much since the beginning of their own attempts to conquest destiny.


	3. Hama

Hama doesn't feel the least bit of regret (never ever) now that she's sitting in a cell again. Nothing like a good sturdy cell to make escape feel that much sweeter. She's waiting for the next full moon to take her out of this retched stink hole and she can't wait.

Until that moment of liberation (once again) she's going to blood bend some of the rats to sneak her extra rations from the kitchens. It's funny how the kitchens are always a wall over from the cells in all the jail like facilities she's been in. Perhaps she's just lucky like that.

The wait for the full moon is bearable, the calm before the storm (raining blood), if only that she's been able to pass on her experiences to that little water bender girl. Not so alone as she once thought, Hama settles herself into her ragged bunk. Her tattered shawl is wrapped around her shoulders tightly in a vain attempt to keep some of the chill of the cold metal walls from seeping into her flesh.

The air is so dry (just like before), she thinks to herself and muses upon the little water bender girl some more. Such talent and skill but she knows for a fact that none of that girl's ancestors were water benders. How strange.

Time ticks by in rivets (drop by drop) like water dripping from the tiniest hole in a pail of water. Hama settles herself for a long wait. The rats scurry under the bars of her cell and her fingers twitch for them to come closer as they each bring a bit of food to her like a token for their master.


	4. Toph

Some people say that eyes are the window to a person's soul.

Toph thinks that those people are all sentimental idiots who couldn't come up with a more poetic body part to describe the opening to a soul. She knows much better than any of the turd brains what it really means to see into a soul.

All you need is to listen to the sound of breathing and maybe touch hands for a moment or two. Steadier people don't breathe as quickly as those who are easily frightened or angered. The shape of a person's hands are a reflection what they do, what kind of person they might be or might have been.

Toph doesn't need to actually _look_ at a soul to know what the soul feels. Just because she doesn't have working pupils doesn't mean there isn't a window to _her_ soul (her soul is Earth, her breathing is slow, her hands are calloused).


	5. Bumi

A/N: Lame jokes up ahead.

* * *

Bumi notest that the older you get the less you dream. At least, the less you believe or remember or feel better after a particularly good dream.

He likes to dream. He also likes rock candy, but that's not relevant to how he feels about dreams.

Anyway, he is sitting on his throne at the highest point of Omashu when little Toph Bei Fong storms into his throne room. She challenges him to an earthbending duel and he accepts. The stadium that he sets up at the bottom of his castle has metal wall panels and she bends those to in case him during the duel. He still manages to earthbend somewhat even after he's been in cased in metal. Eventually, they call a tie and sit down on stadium ground to eat some rock candy Bumi called his attendants to bring in.

"So, little Bei Fong, what are you going to do now?"

"Eat candy. Duh. What do you mean 'what now'?"

"Oh my, you have a temper. Well then, tell me this, why did you challenge me to an earthbending duel when you knew you would probably win."

"I was getting rusty. I needed the practice. Plus, rumor has it that you're a pretty good earthbender."

"Well, I like to think that I still rock. Get it?"

"Sure. You rock, Bumi. That's right. You go get 'em."

"Some people have such dry sense of humor. Perhaps when you were little you dreamed of fighting me?"

"Let's see…Thinking back...No."

Bumi continues laughing but he feels wistful for a brief moment. To not have any expectations but still dream about a future. After the war everyone has always gone on and on and on about the future but he thinks they should start looking at the past first. No one started baking in the future without someone teaching them how to make delicious angel food cake like the palace cook does without some sort of guidance in the past. Cake. Perhaps he'll eat that next. And a celery stick to off set the sugar. He tells the attendant so and the man scurries off to the kitchens.

"Okay. So, you, little Bei Fong, don't dream. Good for you."

"Yeah. Just call me Dream-Not-A-Lot."

"We make a comedic pair, we do."


End file.
